Cancer drug Xeloda gets EU backing

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The European Union has recommended Xeloda be used to treat early colon cancer.

Patients should be treated with the drug, manufactured by Roche Holding AG, alongside oxaliplatin (Eloxatin), following surgery for the cancer, an EU committee recommended.

Xeloda is already approved for a variety of treatments and marketed in over 100 countries, with total sales of 1.3 billion Swiss francs in 2009.

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death across all tumour types in Europe, and is the third most commonly reported cancer in the world, Roche said.

Copyright Press Association 2010
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